AMERICANCONTEMPORARYARTSUMMER 2009

5CONTENTS

32 William Stoehr: Reconstructing the Portrait

34 Summer Art in Washington, DC

Publisher: Richard Kalisher Editor: Donovan Stanley Design: Rui Vilela Contributers: Kate Chimenti, F. Lennox Campello, Jillianne Pierce, Lauren Schwartz, Laura Standley, Kelly Stone

Advertisingadvertising@acamagazine.comRichard Kalisher561-542-6028

© 2009, R.K. Graphics. All Rights Reserved.

ACAMAGAZINE.COM

UP FRONT18 Summer Art Events19 Klaus Moje20 Ceramics in Israel

EXHIBITIONS24 New York28 Park City29 Los Angeles30 Philadelphia

ARTISTS42 Peggy Kwong-Gordon43 Julia Fernandez-Pol44 Schimmel Gold45 Arthur Schumaker

Summer 2009

38 Witold-K: The Man and the Artist

Cover Image by Ed Moses, Skywalk #3, 1999, acrylic on canvas, 72’’ x 60’’. Courtesy of Robert Green Fine Arts.

18 27 44

AMERICANCONTEMPORARYARTCONTENTS

JOE MANGRUM

CHRYSALIS STAGE

293 Grand Street Brooklyn, New York 11211 T: 718.218.8939www.chicontemporaryfineart.com

JUNE 11 - JULY 13, 2009Opening: June 12

6 - 9 PM

Bill Gian “Koo Karroo”

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204www.carlawrightgallery.com

303. 257. 1898

520-577-6301www.MountainShadowGallery.com

3001 E. Skyline Dr. • Suite 109Tucson, AZ 85718

NE Corner of Skyline & CampbellM-S 10 to 6 • S 11 to 5

Mountain Shadow Galleryis now representing

Merlin CohenTucson-based Sculptor

Meet us at Sculpture in the Park

Loveland, CO August 8-9, 2009

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Carla Wright “Shady Blossom”

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204 www.carlawrightgallery.com

303. 257. 1898

Bill Gian Fats

Carla Wright Stonehaven

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204www.carlawrightgallery.com303. 257. 1898

sculptural expressions in bronze and stainless steelsculptural expressions in bronze and stainless steelsculptural expressions in bronze and stainless steel7001 West 35th Ave ■ Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 ■ 303 431 4758 ■ 3d@kevinrobb.com ■ kevinrobb.com

KEVINROBB

“Gracefully Skating”stainless steel,

height 10’

www.aschumaker.comwww.arthur-schumaker.fineartamerica.com

Arthur SchumAker

18 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

U P F R O N T

The Santa Fe festival returns for its 9th edition at El Museo in the heart of Santa Fe’s new Railyard Art District. ART Santa Fe provides a total experience that includes not only a high class mix of excellent contemporary galleries from all over the globe, cutting edge art installations, and emerging artists and dealers, but does so in an utterly unique setting that offers visitors the ultimate arts and culture experience. Viewers will explore the best of the art world, with participating galleries from across the United States, China, Japan, Europe, and Latin America.

ART Santa Fe’s boutique style offers a perfect balance of breadth and intimacy, allowing visitors to speak to dealers and artists while experiencing a full range of art in a comprehensible context. In addition to special single-artist installation spaces, viewers will also witness a new event ‘‘How Things Are Made’’ presented by Landfall Press.

This international art fair begins three days of contemporary works to The Grand Del Mar resort in Coastal North San Diego country. The event will showcase over $4 million in artwork by prominent national and international galleries. This marks the first time that such a large swath will exhibit in San Diego. All of this great art, combined with fun in the sun, makes this mandatory for art lovers.

A R T E V E N T S

(Top) Ed MosEs, Skywalk #3, 1999, acrylic on canvas, 72’’ x 60’’. courTEsy of robErT GrEEn finE arTs.(abovE lEfT) KaThlEEs WilKE, Gift, 1/7, 2009, archival diGiTal prinT on fuji pEarl, 48’’ x 48’’. (abovE riGhT) MichElE MiKEsEll, the Garden room, 2009, oil and EnaMEl on canvas, 42” x 48” boTh iMaGEs courTEsy of dEcorazon GallEry, dallas, Tx.

ART Santa Fe[July 23-26]

Beyond the BorderSan Diego[Sept 2 - 4]

19UP FRONT

U P F R O N T

Klaus MojE: (lEfT) Untitled, 2003-05, iMpacT sEriEs, hEET Glass, sTrippEd, KilnforMEd, and WhEEl-cuT 3’’ x 21’’ in dia.(riGhT) Untitled, 1981, rods of Glass, sTrippEd, KilnforMEd, and WhEEl-cuT 2’’ x 11’’ 1/8 in dia

M U S E U M S

A major force in the international studio glass movement, Klaus Moje has pushed the expressive and technical possibilities of glass for more than five decades. In this comprehensive, 30-year survey, the Museum of Arts and Design traces the progression of Moje’s work, from his early carved crystal glass pieces, to his intricately patterned vessels of layered glass, to his recent multi-panel fused works.

The exhibition includes a new large-scale mural made specifically for this exhibition as well as never-before-shown works from private collections. It illustrates the dominant shapes and aesthetics of the artist’s work and reflects his unparalleled contributions to the field of glass art.

Moje’s work is an exploration of color—the kind of saturated, luminescent abstract arrangements of brilliant hues. He chose early in his career to work with standardized

set of reductive shapes—the circle, the square—that invoke the historic form of a functional shallow bowl. In later years, he occasionally expanded his repertoire to include simple cylinders and boxes, and most recently, flat panels. Within this fairly rigid format, he has experimented with dramatic color and geometric and abstract pattern to create a body of work that is exceptional in its contrasts richnessand beauty.

A highlight of the exhibition is a massive four-panel work, The Portland Panels: Choreographed Geometry, created especially for this exhibition. Composed of more than 22,000 hand-cut strips of glass fused together at the Bullseye Glass factory studios in Portland and totaling 74 1/2 x 218 in. this work is a stunning technical achievement. Over the course of a year, Moje collaborated with a team of glass technicians to overcome problems with fusing glass at this monumental scale.

This work is indicative of the innovation and vitality that Moje has brought to the medium of glass throughout his career. While many glass artists have focused on glassblowing techniques, Moje has centered his practice on glass fusion, in which pieces of glass, often rods, strips, or canes, are arranged in a pattern and melted together in a kiln, to create a solid piece of

glass. Glass fusion has historically been very difficult to achieve with multiple hues, as different colors of glass have different rates of heating and cooling, and will crack if placed side by side. Moje worked with the Portland company Bullseye Glass to create new formulas for glass colors that were compatible. In this collaboration between science and art, Moje and Bullseye significantly expanded the capabilities of glass as an art medium.

In addition to including several of his recent works, the exhibitiion includes many of Moje’s very rare early pieces. It also provides a perspective on the artist’s changing aesthetic, as he experimented with new techniques and a greater palette of colors became available to him.

Some of the works are the result of specific events in the artist’s life: the Horizon series came immediately after his move from Germany to Australia and reflects his exposure to a dramatically different landscape, while the Impact series is a visceral reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

KLAUS MOJEMUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN [THROUGH SEPTEMBER 20]

20 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

U P F R O N T

Through June 7th, visitors to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC will have the opportunity to view a special display of Israeli ceramic art, entitled From the Melting Pot into the Fire: Contemporary Ceramics in Israel. The Mint Museum is the only venue in the United States to host this exhibition, which features works from many acclaimed Israeli sculptors and potters including Efrat Eyal, Lea Sheves and Ada Yoels.

Artist Yael Novak, co-organizer of the exhibition, said, “Israeli ceramic art today illustrates a diversity and intricacy that derives from a multitude of cultural influences characteristic of immigrant societies.” Because Israel is a melting pot of cultures, modern Israeli ceramic art is influenced by the diversity of its people and is created using both traditional and contemporary processes to create these masterpieces. Also influencing modern trends in Israeli ceramics are recent design school graduates, who are involved in widespread new design activity across the region.

Michelle Mickey, Curatorial Assistant at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design says, “In From the Melting Pot Into the Fire: Contemporary Ceramics in Israel, object selection and exhibition design were aimed at creating an environment that allowed the visitor to feel as if they were in

Israel. The raw texture and earthy tones of the ceramic sculptures coupled with Mediterranean blue highlights throughout the exhibition are reminiscent of the landscape of this beautiful oceanside desert.”

The exhibition explores the common theme of Israeli Cultural Identity. The complex political and economic climate which exists in Israel often leads the artists to express their frustrations and struggles through this art form. Israeli sculpture is frequently characterized by the artists struggling with issues of immigration, ethnicity and a sense of place. These struggles are portrayed through different sculpting methods and the collections offers museum-goers a variety of different colors, textures and forms to examine.

Aside from viewing the ceramics, visitors will also have the chance to take part in one of the activities offered, including artist lectures and hands-on crafts. One such class, The Butterfly Project, a collaboration with the Levine Jewish Community Center, is a space-limited workshop where participants each paint a small bisque-fired butterfly. These butterflies are part of a global initiative to paint 1.5 million butterflies in order to commemorate the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust. These butterflies will ultimately be added to a community wall of remembrance

in Shalom Park, Charlotte, later in 2009.

From the Melting Pot Into the Fire: Contemporary Ceramics in Israel was co-coordinated by Yael Novak of the CAAI (Ceramic Artist Association of Israel) and Annie Carlano of the Mint Museum. The exhibition was not originally intended to travel, but support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel, AIDA (Association of Israel’s Decorative Arts), and the Founders’ Circle Ltd. (the national support affiliate of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design) made this possible.

“Through this exhibition we hope to share with the public some of the most innovative ceramic work being created in Israel today, as well as address personal and communal issues of place within an immigrant society, a topic which resonates deeply in a melting pot nation such as the United States,” says Mickey. - Jillianne Pierce

A R T E V E N T S

CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS IN ISRAELMINT MUSEUM OF CRAFT + DESIGN CHARLOTTE, NC

DENVER’S ART DISTRICT ON SANTA FE DISTRICT * GALLERY INQUIRIES WELCOME *

DARLENE KUHNE855 INCA ST. DENVER CO 80204

720 935 2596WWW.DARLENEKUHNEART.COM

24 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

E X H I B I T I O N S

Memory Boxes, Meyer’s second solo exhibition at the gallery features a new series of multi-media light boxes, together with other illuminated sculptural works. The work evokes a dramatic personal narrative—often a reconstruction of the artist’s own childhood memories—rife with humor, sentiment, and sometimes sadness.

Building his own plexiglas boxes, to which he adds ancestral ephemera, family photos and other nostalgic objects, Meyer illuminates them with found light sources as well as various types of bulbs and colored filters. His sophisticated sense of engineering and lighting lend nuance and elegance to these assemblage compositions. The work bristles with the theatricality of a stage set, yet summons the sacredness of objects displayed in reliquaries or shrines. Deeply fascinated by psychology, Meyer often conjures family dynamics such as parent-child love expressed through physical bonding, or suggests that the recollection of unconditional parental love may be a potent antidote to the inevitability of loss and separation. The work is at once personal and universal—the artist’s sentiments are right there on the surface, offered to the viewer with vulnerability and gentle wit.

Jerry Meyer’s work has been included in exhibitions throughout the United States, such as Artspace,

New Haven, CT; the Art Miami and Red Dot Art Fairs, both in Miami, FL; as well as the Red Dot Fairs in New York City and London; the Eli Whitney Museum, Hamden, CT; the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT; the San Jose Rep Gallery, San Jose, CA; and the Sharon Arts Center in Petersborough, NH.

N E W Y O R K

JERRY MEYERDENISE BIBRO GALLERY [THROUGH JUNE 20]

jErry MEyEr: (Top)16 SUnbeam t-9 toaSterS inStallation, dETail, 2009, MixEd MEdia, 84’’ x 75’’ x 6.75’’(abovE) the PSychoPatholoGy of everyday life, 2008, MixEd MEdia, 32’’ x 24’’ x 6.5’’

25EXHIBITIONS

E X H I B I T I O N S

Imaginary Enemy, an exhibition of new work by Liao Yibai, is the first exhibition in New York for the Chinese artist. Unlike other Chinese contemporary artists, Yibai’s sculpture uniquely explores how the Chinese imagined the myth and threat of America during and immediately following the Cultural Revolution.

Yibai was born and grew up at the site of a bomb and chemical weapons factory, where his father designed cruise missiles to be used against the United States. The artist therefore grew up in an environment of weapons, secrecy, and danger. The key to understanding the Imaginary Enemy series is through stories arising from the artist’s personal memories and dreams.

At first viewing, the stainless steel sculptures prompt laughter. They look disconcertingly strange

and unlike most other contemporary art. Yet each one carries complex layers of meaning and significance. Top Secret Hamburger, for example, recalls the artist’s first taste of an American hamburger (considered an icon of American capitalism) and finding it rancid. Cash Fighting represents the continuing economic battles between the two countries, while PLA Whiskey recalls the story of a former Chinese soldier’s dream of forbidden American alcohol. Several of Yibai’s works combine resembling the ones that blasted

Communist slogans from a truck that drove through his town three times a day.

Through his sculptures, Yibai reminds us that ‘enemy’ is a relative concept. Instead of threatening war and competition, the works in Imaginary Enemy encourage us tosee these as humorous misunder-standings that must be corrected.

N E W Y O R K

LIAO YIBAIMIKE WEISS GALLERY [MAY 8 - AUG 15]

liao yibai: (Top) kitty hawk b, 2009, sTainlEss sTEEl, 53 lbs, 12’’ x 51’’ x 27’’(MiddlE) Top sEcrET haMburGEr (sMall), 2009, sTainlEss sTEEl, 14’’ x 23’’ x 23’’(abovE) Pla whiSkey, 2009, sTainlEss sTEEl, 35’’ x 12’’ x 12’’

26 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

E X H I B I T I O N S

Since April of 2002, Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu has been documenting the physical and mental boundaries of young Puerto Rican women and their families living on 103rd Street in Spanish Harlem. Her series, Life on the Block discusses how the women of these families provide an inner compass to explore the challenges of life and their quest for empowerment as well as their desire and inability to brake a cycle of mere survival.

For Adriana, ‘‘American society is a mosaic of cultures that share a land, a flag and a language as symbols of an identity. But beneath the illusions of national unity in parts of America, ‘another country’ exists.’’ She is referring to the 13% of the US population that is Hispanic American. ‘‘With that demographic,’’ she says, ‘‘one third are Puerto Rican families searching for a prosperous life.’’

Still, there is a hardness that characterizes these streets, and innocence dies young. This community has a high rate of unemployment-three times the New York City average. The family

income is based on public assistance and often supplemented by the underground economy of the street; the sale of drugs and other illegal activities that commonly lead to detention, prison, and death.

Fathers and brothers are often absent from the family unit. Girls reaffirm their existence through maternity and drop out of high school to become mothers at an early age. These strong young women of the block represent the potential elements of change in this society. Women are the pillars of the community. These women often choose to be somebody in their block rather than nobody in a promising new horizon. To break that lifestyle is almost a betrayal to their roots and their people. Many families in these communities live under the same

values and circumstances, a pattern of existence they jokingly call ‘‘the ghetto life.’’

This series is an intense look at their roles as women in a machista culture, as latinas in a white society, and as mothers of the upcoming American generations.

B R O O K LY N

ADRIANA LOPEz SANFELIURANDALL SCOTT GALLERY [JUL 16 - AUG 15]

adriana lopEz sanfEliu: (Top) amy and coPe

(abovE lEfT) mickey in hiS room

(abovE riGhT) miSSy’S Sweet Sixteen

27EXHIBITIONS

E X H I B I T I O N S

Four artists who emphasize the linear abilities of sculpture will present their work at Art 101’s Summer Sculpture Show. The wall sculptures of Katherine Koos are jewel-like in their decorative nature. The swirling drawings in metal wire are studded with a swarm of beads, creating shadows as an extension of the composition. Gicometti meets The Terminator in Alexandra Limpert’s reconstruction of the human form through a steely scaffolding of pipes, brackets and rods. Her cool vision and attention to craft and ingenuity examine the metaphysical framework of the human form. Fara’h Salehi presents her iconic mosquito as universal feminine creator. The knife blade lines of the figure’s appendages split the air with a kinetic quality that belies its static form. In contrast to her exhibition

colleagues, Ulrika Stromback turns to materials of the natural world adhering twigs with a polymer-like resin, thereby creating structures that reveal the imperfectness of the organic matter, yet preserve an orderly, geometric linearity reminiscent of an orb-weaving spider’s web.

In conjunction with Asian Contemporary Arts Week NY 2009, Korean-born New York-based artist Hee Sook Kim presents twelve monumental paintings (each panel measures 96” x 48”) entitled, “Twelve Gates: Encounter with Hildegard of Bingen” as well as a video installation collaboration with musician-composer-poet Chri-stopher Sultis. Kim’s panels are a celebratory collision of cultures past and present, and from opposite ends

of the globe. At once reminiscent of ancient Asian wall scrolls and Western illuminated manuscripts, the panels incorporate iconographic references to calligraphic cartridges, Dead Sea Scrolls, botanical illustrations, a figure that could be the “Vitruvian Man” or a dancing Shiva. Like snowboard graphics, Kim employs citrus colors in block design current in pop culture, giving the panels a fresh, unabashedly beautiful universality and timelessness.

Lauriston Avery’s dark and mysterious paintings evoke auras and mystical landscapes that delve into the realms of mythology. Culling from inspirations like death metal, the occult and our desire to know a magical and sublime sense of the unknown, his paintings push the envelope of the overly drawn out “dark” art of recent trends to insightful, provocative and truly innovative painterly vision.

B R O O K LY N

Summer Sculpture ShowArt 101 [June 19 - July 12]

Hee Sook KimCh’i Contemporary [May 7 - June 8]

Lauriston Avery The Hogar Collection [June 26 - July 31]

(lEfT) alExandra liMpErT, third Generation, 2008, sTEEl, 66’’ x 20’’ x 26’’(MiddlE) hEE sooK KiM, twelve GateS, encoUnter with hildeGard of binGen, 2009, MixEd MEdia on panEl, 96’’ x 48’’(riGhT) laurisTon avEry, oriana, 2009, flashE on canvas, 36’’ x 36’’

28 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

E X H I B I T I O N S

A Distorted Lens, a two-artist exhibition, features gallery artists David Flores and Lisa Alisa. While each artist works in a very “Superflat” style, they each have very different cultural influences. In his first Los Angeles show since 2006, Flores delivers all new artwork that embodies his unique interpretation of pop iconography. In addition to his paintings he has

embellished dozens of vintage fashion, music and news magazine spreads with his vision of the world around him. Flores’ stained-glass window style creates a warped view of the pop icons he simultaneously idolizes and mocks. Lisa Alisa also follows the superflat style laid out by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, although her work tends to havemuch more obvious bite. Generally

featuring thinly veiled self-portraits, her paintings are what she refers to as “new feminist” artwork. While bloody and violent, the paintings are a metaphor for both the brutality of life and the desire for change within the artist herself. There’s a thick vein of dark, surreal humor running through the images. The pair both paint in the “superflat” style, but have clearly found their own voices in making

their individual commentary on society. Alisa is openly shouting her feminist views while Flores’ work is subtly, but undeniably masculine. Together Alisa and Flores reflectboth sides of the sexual dynamic that rages between men and women.

(lEfT) david florEs, breathe, 2009, acrylic on vinTaGE phoToGraph, 8.5’’ x 11”(riGhT) lisa alisa, PornoStar, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 36’’ x 48’’

L O S A N G E L E S

DAVID FLORES AND LISA ALISA lEBASSE PROJECTS [JUL 18 - AUG 8]

29EXHIBITIONS

E X H I B I T I O N S

Joel Philip Myers, this year’s recipient of the Millville Rose Society Award from the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Arts, will be high-lighted in this historic exhibition. It includes works from Myers’ personal collection from 1971 to the present. Myers’ work is best known for its expert craftsmanship and exceptional sense of design. In the early 1990’s, Myers took a break from exhibiting his work in order to take the time to ‘‘search for new directions which would require extensive experimentation.’’

This time of maturation marks a period where the artist, who generally focused on themes such as the natural world, landscapes, rivers, and flowers, began to focus on ideas related to “the conditions of our humanity.’’ While the first pieces from this series deal with darker human concepts such as pain,

war and suffering, by the late 1990’s Myers had begun two new series called Dialogue and Enticement, which are ‘‘more optimistic and cheerful, even amusing.’’ His most recent body of work, the Color Study Series, is an exploration and celebration of the artist’s “long love relationship with color.”

New and past works by painter Berny Brownstein will be presented at Wexler’s second floor, beginning July 29. A native Philadelphian, Brownstein is a recorder of decisive moments, personal reflections, and experiences gained through years of travel and observation. An artist who is “excited about the essence of all things; a figure, a landscape, the character of an individual”, Brownstein is inspired by the possibilities of “form, color, texture, the transient play of light and shadow.” For him, “even the

most commonplace of objects are enduring moments to the limitless subject matter of nature.’’

P H I L A D E L P H I A

JOEL PHILIP MYERS AND BERNY BROWNSTEINWEXLER GALLERY [JUL 3 - AUG 29]

(Top) bErny broWnsTEin, november in lancaSter PennSylvania, 1999, oil on fabric, 42’’ x 72” (lEfT) joEl philip MyErs, facetS of norden 1, 1989, Glass, 8.63’’ x 4.5’’ x 14.13’’(riGhT) joEl philip MyErs, danSk Sommer, 1989, Glass, 13.5’’ x 15.5’’ x 4’’ , Green fiSh, 1990, Glass, 25.5’’ x 9.25’’ x 4’’

(lEfT) david florEs, breathe, 2009, acrylic on vinTaGE phoToGraph, 8.5’’ x 11”(riGhT) lisa alisa, PornoStar, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 36’’ x 48’’

30 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

E X H I B I T I O N S

Robin Denevan’s work is an exploration of the relationships and dualities of atmosphere and form. For this new show of 12-15 works, ‘‘Quiet Moments’’, the encaustic paintings focus on a pause between extremes, a place where the imagery is continuous and rhythmic, a forest grove, a river’s shore, a jungle canopy.

In researching his topic, Denevan has traveled extensively throughout Asia and Latin America with charcoal, graphite and ink as his primary media. The works’ intent is to convey an emotional and visceral impression of his experiences abroad. His paintings are a journal of the strange and evocative landscapes he encounters while traveling. Though often realistic in nature, the styles shift with the

changing landscapes and suggest departures for his abstract paintings.

Denevan’s latest work was inspired by his recent trip to China’s Yunnan Province. His paintings are based on drawings he did of the Yangtze River in an area that will soon be dammed and flooded. He did these studies during the dry season when sandbars and islandscut the river into many paths and shapes. It was a unique opportunity to see such a magnificent and haunting landscape.

Denevan’s works reflect the rich and textured beauty of this region. Painted on canvas with acrylic, bees wax and oil, the paintings explore the subtleties of light, reflection, and density with layered surfaces and organic forms. The luminous palate of

these encaustic paintings, evoke a sensuous yet haunting marriage of dark and quiet waters.

PA R K C I T Y, U TA H

ROBIN DENEVANJULIE NESTER GALLERY [JULY 31 - AUG 26]

robin dEnEvan: SaGe yanGtze, 2009, MixEd MEdia EncausTic on canvas, 30‘‘ x 68’’

32 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

William Stoehr left his career to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an artist. Previously, Stoehr was president of National Geographic Maps, the entity responsible for all things cartographic for the international magazine. Although gratifying on many levels. Stoehr yearned to explore a different sort of terrain, the infinite territory of canvas and paint.

Speaking with him from his Boulder, Colorado, studio, one gets the feeling Stoehr is in his element, judging from the excitement with which he speaks about his recent works. This interview finds him midway through his newest series. For many modern artists and explorers alike, this is the dreaded moment of “what do I do next?”, a critical junction between a momentous start full of ideas and fervent work and the gradual waning of drive and longing for the next frontier. Surrounded by canvases, many of which are on the verge of the final brush-stroke, Stoehr finds opportunity for new discoveries in the paint already applied and inspiration for the forms not yet realized.

Stoehr’s aptitude in rendering the human figure is astounding, not withstanding the fact that he has only been a “career artist” for four years. The ability with which he coaxes the form from within thecanvas has earned Stoehr accolades

from domestic and foreign galleries, exhibiting recently at Space Gallery in Denver, Colorado and Gallerie Porto 34 in Saint Barth, French West Indies.

The inception of Stoehr’s newest collection originated from a conversation between the artist and a close friend, a fellow artist and gallery owner. Eager for anew adventure, Stoehr asked his friend what he thought would be an

interesting artistic avenue to explore, contemplating a foray into the unknown. Stoehr’s friend, familiar with his earlier works, suggested a closer examination of abstract portraiture. With this suggestion and having recently attended a Marlene Dumas retrospective, Stoehr began the first pieces of what he would call the Burka Series.

Focusing on the elements of portraiture that interest him most, Stoehr directed his attention to expressive qualities of the human face with intense concentration on the subjects’ eyes. Stoehr details the model’s features with precision, each planer variation expertly drafted with dramatic shadows and highlights. Stoehr’s models are ethnically diverse providing a comprehensive array of varying bone structures and features. The selection of models enhances the universality of the collection as a whole.

The monochromatic palette with which he initially renders the visage freezes the form in a dramatic likeness of the model while imbuing the canvas with an almost sculptural reflection. Although the face is frozen in a sort of suspended reality, the subjects’ eyes are vibrant and engaging. Stoehr’s application of dramatic sweeps of red across the canvas accentuates and abstracts certain details of his figure, enhancing the tension and movement of the subjects’ eyes. With varying coverage of color, Stoehr amplifies the figure’s intensity and presence.

For Stoehr, this melding

WilliaM sToEhr: (Top) Untitled (rheanna), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’ (abovE) WilliaM sToEhr in his sTudio

A FORMER CARTOGRAPHERMAPS THE HUMAN FACE BY KELLY STONE

33FEATURE

of figurative and abstraction is a functional union of his right-brained and left-brained approach to art. While drawn to the pragmatism of representational mark-making, Stoehr is enthralled by the freedom of intuitive abstract compositions. Stoehr describes the first time he approached a detailed canvas with a red brush questioning, “Should I put the paint in certain places… or let the painting go?” A moment of conflicted desire to control was met with his instinctive reaction to press the brush to the canvas; Stoehr standing on the precipice, decided to leap. With a distinct portion of the journey relying on intuitive happenstance, has Stoehr experienced any missteps? He answers, yes, explaining a situation with one of his first canvases, an over-energized brush stroke produced a foot-long gash across the surface of the painting. Aware but not overly conscious, Stoehr continues to allow the brush the ability to create at will.

While some of his canvases are lightly touched with color, others integrate color intensely into the matrix of the composition. Stoehr juxtaposes translucent washes of color with opaque brush-strokes varying the figure’s presence on the canvas. In some portraits the color closely contours the facial features, pleasantly accentuating the form. In other portraits in this series, swaths of color seemingly dissect the image, abruptly cropping and intensely abstracting the figure

At the time of this interview, Stoehr is investigating new techniques of color application. Having recently read a biography on Francis Bacon, Stoehr is interested in Bacon’s use of spray paint. Drawn to its immediacy, limitless intensity, and unpredictability, Bacon used spray paint and other unconventional coloring tools as a distraction from intentional mark-making stating, “Half my painting activity is disrupting what I can do with ease.” With an unwavering sense of adventure and a taste for the unknown, Stoehr picks up a spray can and charges forward.

Stoehr’s exploration has thus far produced twenty-five 48” x 36” canvases. Each piece is left untitled indicating his model’s name in parenthesis. Stoehr notes, the

collective title Burka Series and the figures therein are not intended to be explicitly political. Individually, the images are powerful; as a group, the tension is moving. The women look out from behind their mantle of color urging the viewer to stay a moment, engage, and process.

Stoehr did not have preconceived ideas as to how the pieces should read singularly or as a series leaving the impetus of the collection to be decided by the viewer. Stoehr hopes to provoke an experience and illicit an emotional response but is apt to allow the viewer the freedom to explore his or her own conclusions. Stoehr simply states, “I shouldn’t be trying to guide. I’m interested in knowing but will let them figure it out.” For a man who spent the majority of his career producing detailed maps and guidebooks, it seems fitting that in “retirement” Stoehr opts to provide the vehicle but not the destination.

Kelly Stone is an art historian and freelance writer living in Denver, Colorado.

While some of his canvases are lightly touched with color, others integrate color intensely into the matrix of the composition. Stoehr juxtaposes translucent washes of color with opaque brush-strokes varying the figure’s presence on the canvas. In some portraits the color closely contours the facial features, pleasantly accentuating the form. In other portraits in this series, swaths of color seemingly dissect the image, abruptly cropping and intensely abstracting the figure

At the time of this interview, Stoehr is investigating new techniques of color application. Having recently read a biography on Francis Bacon, Stoehr is interested in Bacon’s use of spray paint. Drawn to its immediacy, limitless intensity, and unpredictability, Bacon used spray paint and other unconventional coloring tools as a distraction from intentional mark-making stating, “Half my painting activity is disrupting what I can do with ease.” With an unwavering sense of adventure and a taste for the unknown, Stoehr picks up a spray can and charges forward.

Stoehr’s exploration has thus far produced twenty-five 48” x 36” canvases. Each piece is left untitled indicating his model’s name in parenthesis. Stoehr notes, the collective title Burka Series and the figures therein are not intended to be explicitly political. Individually, the images are powerful; as a group, the tension is moving. The women look out from behind their mantle of

color urging the viewer to stay a moment, engage, and process.

Stoehr did not have preconceived ideas as to how the pieces should read singularly or as a series leaving the impetus of the collection to be decided by the viewer. Stoehr hopes to provoke an experience and illicit an emotional response but is apt to allow the viewer the freedom to explore his or her own conclusions. Stoehr simply states, “I shouldn’t be trying to guide. I’m interested in knowing but will let them figure it out.” For a man who spent the majority of his career producing detailed maps and guidebooks, it seems fitting that in “retirement” Stoehr opts to provide the vehicle but not the destination.

Kelly Stone is an art historian and freelance writer living in Denver, Colorado.

William Stoehr’s work can be found online at www.stoehr.us.

WilliaM sToEhr: (lEfT) Untitled (thea), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’(riGhT) Untitled (PriScila), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’

WilliaM sToEhr: (Top) Untitled (rheanna), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’ (abovE) WilliaM sToEhr in his sTudio

34 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

Being an artist in the Greater Washington, DC, region means being part of a perplexing paradox. On the positive side, the regional art scene in and around the nation’s capital is one of the most vibrant and diverse art scenes in the world. Led by the Hirshhorn, the National Gallery of Art, American University’s Katzen Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the Phillips Collection, the National Portrait Gallery and the various other Smithsonian museums, the DC region offers an exceptional number of world-class museums, most of which are free and have a significant international presence.

The region not only boasts of a large number of independently owned commercial art galleries, artists’ cooperatives, alternative art venues and non-profit art spaces, but also a significant number of international art galleries and spaces within or sponsored by many of the foreign embassies which make Washington their home.

On the negative side, the Washington news media’s main focus tends to be aimed towards politics and everything associated with the world of politicians. Over the years the already scant coverage given to local art galleries and artists has been diminished considerably, and the current arts coverage of the capital’s two main newspapers can only be included in the genre

of journalistic minimalism. For example, the Washington Post employs a freelancer to write about 25 gallery reviews a year, while I cannot recall the last time that the Washington Times wrote a significant gallery review.

In spite of all that, and perhaps driven by the assorted energies one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, the DC area art scene is charged with energy, zeal and the artistic power of the many thousands of artists who live, work and create art in the region.

From May 29 – July 5, Artomatic, the nation’s largest artist-organized arts extravaganza, now in its 10th anniversary, takes place in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. Artomatic

is a huge (usually around a thousand artists, performers, musicians, etc.) artist-run free for all where everything is art and everyone can hang their artwork. Artomatic is where the lack of a curatorial hand is bemoaned by traditional critics (who always seem to miss or ignore the enormous contribution that the event delivers to the city) but loved by everyone else.

In a nutshell, Artomatic takes over an entire building (in this case Half Street’s, located at 55 M Street, S.E in DC), and converts the entire space into hundreds of individual and group art galleries, performance stages, theatres, movies, and restaurants. At Artomatic you will find a mind-numbing assortment of artists at all levels of their career and covering every possible genre and subject (and skill level) that one can imagine. It is usually open 24 hours a day, and it is always free. Washington museums generally tend to think of themselves as national or international museums, and with the notable exception of the new Katzen Museum and sometimes the Corcoran, they seldom if ever pay any attention to their own backyard.

Margaret Boozer is easily the capital region’s most innovative artist when it comes to getting your fingers dirty in clay and the assorted ingredients in the life of a ceramic artist, and from June 27 through

lEsliE holT: hello PicaSSo (dancerS), 2008, oil on canvas, 6‘‘ x 4’’.courTEsy of curaTor’s officE

BEYOND THE BIG MUSEUMS, WASHINGTON OFFERS A VIBRANT AND DIVERSE ART SCENE BY LENNOX CAMPELLO

35FEATURE

August 16, the Katzen Museum will give Boozer her first DC area museum show in an exhibition titled Mud Drawings.

Elsewhere, the District itself was once loosely organized into several pockets of galleries centered around Georgetown, the Dupont Circle area and the 14th Street corridor. Some of these galleries, such as the five galleries inside Canal Square (M Street at 31st Street, NW) host regular openings on the Third Friday of each month, while the dozen or so art galleries around the Dupont Circle area host their openings on the First Friday of each month. Leigh Conner and Dr. Jamie Smith are two of the District’s hardest working dealers, and their Conner Contemporary recently moved from the Dupont Circle area to a spacious new building on Florida Avenue. From May 30 through July 15 they will be hosting Kenny Hunter’s “Like Water in Water” and Nathaniel Rogers’ “The Last Viking.”

Another recent relocation has been the Nevin Kelly Gallery, which sometimes seems to operate under the radar of Washington art critics while delivering sold out shows more often than many other DC galleries. From June 16 through July 11, they will have a cleverly named show titled “Stimulus”, which is a group exhibition designed to stimulate the mind and the art economy by offering selected works by local artists at prices of $500 or less.

The building at 1515 14th

Street, NW is also home to several important galleries such as Hemphill Fine Arts, G Fine Arts, and from June 30 – July 25, the tiny (and aptly named) but important Curator’s Office will host Leslie Holt’s “Hello Masterpiece” exhibition, where Hello Kitty gets her freak on invading art historic masterpieces in these small, witty paintings.

Unless you are a local, you’ll never realize that you have crossed the border from the District into Maryland, and this transparency is most evident in places such as where Wisconsin Avenue leads into Bethesda and also the Rhode Island Avenue area of Prince George’s County known as the Gateway Arts District.

The Bethesda area is dotted with some of the region’s most attractive spaces, and galleries such as Neptune Gallery, Fraser Gallery, Heineman Myers Contemporary Art, and the Washington School of Photography lead an assorted group of 13 art galleries and art venues which align each second Friday of the month for the Bethesda Art Walk, which includes a free minibus for those who would rather do their gallery hopping without walking.

From June 4-27, do not miss the solo at Neptune Gallery by sculptor Joe Barbaccia, one of the region’s most visible and active artists. Barbaccia is a master of reinventing common objects by recreating them in new forms and shapes, sometimes humorous, often charged with sexual energy, and sometimes offering a powerful social commentary.

The Gateway Arts District is home to some of the region’s most diverse art spaces as well to a large number of artists’ studios and the very influential Washington Glass School. And from June 4 – July 18, H&F Fine Arts will showcase the unusual, riotous portraiture work of Kristen Copham, a portrait painter with a natural ability to capture and expose the hidden personality of her subjects. Don’t expect formal portraits here, but expect to see all that you can see about her subjects.

Cross any of the bridges into Virginia and head for Old Town Alexandria, home of the huge Torpedo Factory complex, home to three floors of working artists’ studios and several art galleries. Of these, Target Gallery and The Art League Gallery routinely deliver superb group shows, while Multiple Exposures Gallery is easily one of the top photography galleries in the region.

While bypassing the city’s largest museums, one can find an exciting art scene throughout this very vibrant region.

josEph barbaccia: eUPhoria, 2008, polysTyrEnE, sEquins, sTainlEss sTEEl pins, 17‘‘ x 21’’ x 21’’lEsliE holT: hello PicaSSo (dancerS), 2008, oil on canvas, 6‘‘ x 4’’.courTEsy of curaTor’s officE

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38 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

Growing up in a mental institution in Poland during Nazi occupation sounds more like an Elie Wiesel book than a typical childhood. But for Witold-K (Witold Kaczanowski), it describes part of his inspiration for painting identifiable loneliness. It’s the beginnings of what drove him to depict everything from abstract figures sitting in the fetal position to his curious black holes. And it’s those works that have brought so much pride to Denver.

Last summer, Sotheby’s in Amsterdam invited Witold-K to have a one-man show, From People to Black Holes, featuring 163 paintings. According to him, it’s the first time Sotheby’s has invited an American artist to exhibit solo on their premises. “It’s something great for the city…This is extraordinary,” he says, almost as if it were the first time he spoke of the accomplishment aloud. “It’s a tribute to the city of Denver.”

Witold-K’s entire life plays out like a well-told tale: one exciting, heart-wrenching, perplexing story after another, beginning with his own birth. His mother had tuberculosis, and when she became pregnant with Witold-K in the early 1930s, her family wanted her to have an abortion so that she might save her own life. She refused and lost her life by giving him one. Because of this, “It’s impossible for me not to love women,” Witold-K says, turning

this point of almost uncomfortable sadness into charismatic humor.

His father was the director of one of the largest Eastern European mental institutions, tucked in the woods near Warsaw. Witold-K speaks of his time there before the Nazis arrived. “Can you imagine?” he says, fondly describing one of his father’s patients who pretended to be a locomotive for an entire year. Those patients who had lost their minds had patience for children like no sane person ever could. In fact, they provided the clay for his first sculptures. He says he used to sneak into the rooms of catatonic patients and change their positions. At the least, this is a ballsy way to express one’s art. And at most, completely morbid.

Because of his mother’s tuberculosis, Witold-K was a bit weak and had holes in his lungs. He was sent to a sanitarium for children with TB. His fellow squatters died so often that he never had the chance to make friends. As a result, he turned inward and began incessantly drawing to express himself, coupling his own loneliness with the cries of despair he heard at the mental institution. “True loneliness,” he says, enunciating each syllable as he says it. He describes the plight of an insane individual who doesn’t even know himself, let alone have the ability to express himself to anyone around him as “completely isolated...”

Add to this a dash of WWII, when food was scarce and when, for years, all he heard was endless begging from his father’s patients for anything at all to eat. During the summers, they ate grass. “Art and psychology were tremendously mixed together,” for him, he says.

Before Witold-K’s father went on to become the vice president of the Polish Red Cross, they hid many Jews from the Nazis in his facility. Whereas a country boy in the States might relay stories of cow-tipping, Witold-K relays stories of stealing food from nearby Nazi camps. “We were like eleven-, thirteen-year-old gangsters…We got shot at like the monkeys in the trees…” Again, he gives a jaw-dropping statement a sort of normalcy.

He’s qualified to paint “not necessarily [his] loneliness, but what [he] observes, what [he] sees.” He knows tragedy and suffering, and yet, he never intended to paint it for fame or money. He paints for himself and happily accepts his success. “Art became for me what insulin is for a diabetic…I had to.”

Even after he went out on his own around the age of twenty-seven, his life still read like a story. He smuggled dissident texts out of Warsaw in 1964 and wasn’t allowed to return. He tromped around Paris with poet Jacques Prévert. Pablo Picasso painted his portrait. Denver Mayor

WITOLD-KTHE MAN AND THE ARTIST BY LAURA STANDLEY

39FEATURE

Wellington Webb made May 15th Witold-K Day in honor of the artist’s 65th birthday. For his 75th, he went skydiving, and he was nominated for the 2007 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. His accolades and adventures seem to never end.

Last summer may have been the highlight of his career thus far. When he arrived in Amsterdam for his exhibition, he was completely shocked to see a three-story banner displaying one of his paintings, hanging from Sotheby’s entryway. Although he has already seen so much in his life, this surprised him. The show reflected the extent of his work.

He has been an artist for six decades, assigning his work into eleven periods. To Witold-K, art should inspire a question. “I am haunted by questions. For me, true art is just one of them. If a painting is only an answer, it is not art; it is just an illustration,” he said. Which is probably why in 1956, his People period began. And his people are not the type of representations that allow for personal reflection; they are emotional and active. Jena-Jacques Léveque of Arts & Loisirs verbalized Witold-K’s work eloquently: “Paintings of Witold-K are inhabited by subjects reduced to bare essentials, to a token sign. No anatomical distinction, no expression here to evoke a ‘human dimension,’ but a very intense suggestion of a

kind of insufferable heaviness which reduces each character to its primary state. Isn’t that, in the long run, the last sigh of mankind and, at the same time, its first babbling, as if the world were starting all over again?”

Witold-K eventually arrived at his Loneliness period, portraying seated people holding their knees. If they were moving, they might be rocking back and forth in despair. “On the day you understand your loneliness, you will respond to my painting,” he said of his work. Likewise, “This work will mean nothing to those who have not experienced loss,” said a Warsaw art critic, Monika Malkowska.

After visiting a Texan cathedral exhibiting Marc Rothko’s work, Witold-K responded to Rothko as the first artist to paint silence. He wanted to take it one step further. Thus, the Green Period was born into mesmerizing spheres of light painted with the most intense shade of emerald. “There is hope still,” he says, describing the effect.

In his subsequent Black Holes period, all hope is lost. His black holes are an effort to go beyond the silence that Rothko portrayed and ask: What’s on the other side? It’s a question he asks of everything and one that plagues all of mankind: What’s on the other side of existence? He knew he “needed a third dimension.” By collaborating

with Dr. Stirling A. Colgate (former president and adjunct professor of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), whom he met in ’73, he was able to achieve just that. “My point of views is emotional and his is purely scientific. Someone might think ‘These guys can’t play ping pong on the same table.’” Yet, Witold-K built the models and Colgate used explosives to literally blow black holes into them, making the philosophical concept suddenly concrete.

As most of Witold-K’s art inspires, Black Holes viewers begin to wonder at the nothingness, the hopelessness therein. It is Witold-K’s hope that he can eventually realize this project’s full potential through a large scale architectural endeavor. All that is missing is a “wealthy man with imagination who will sponsor the project.” It contains all of Witold-K’s passions: architecture, sculpture, philosophy…art.

Laura Standley is the Editor-in-Chief of 303 Magazine.

42 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

A R T I S T S

Peggy Kwong-Gordon’s work isinspired by Taoist principles of compassion, moderation, and humi-lity, which help one attain stability within the universe. Kwong-Gor-don meditates artistically on this philosophy, using abstraction’s for-mal characteristics to better understand herself and her surroun-dings. In Equipoise, which means equilibrium, graceful strokes of color undulate, intersect, and diverge in a white field. The overall compositional balance of Equipoi-se suggests how life’s many paths coalesce to form the way (the Tao).

This show was presented at1point618 in Cleveland, OH. Pre-viously, Kwong-Gordon has exhibi-

ted her work in Rhode Island, Mas-sachusetts, and in Northwest Ohio at the Firelands Associations for Vi-sual Arts, SPACES Gallery, and the Sandusky Cultural Center.

ACHIEVING EQUILIBRIUM

P E G G Y K W O N G - G O R D O N

pEGGy KWonG-Gordon: (lEfT) StillneSS in the dancinG 7(riGhT) eqUiPoiSe 2

43ARTISTS

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A solo show, residency fellowship, and relocation to New York in less than six months from graduation is a rare winning streak for such a young painter. For Julia Fernandez-Pol, a recent graduate from Boston University’s MFA program, it is a testament to the overwhelming dynamism of her paintings as well as to the enthusiastic support of Denver-based Carson/van Straaten Gallery, which took her on following a visit to her Master’s exhibition in Boston.

In her website statement, she cites ‘‘nature’’ as a force not dissimilar to the artist in it’s expressive possibilities and creative drive. Her work is ‘‘driven by [an] interest in creating a world’’. Her paintings certainly recall organic forms in their morphing, exploding, bulbous, and unexpected specificity. Though her images are based on forms likely to be found in «nature», they are not themselves based on anything observable in particular but results of imaginative exercises. As a body of work, they act as a poetic metaphor of a scientific attention. Not surprisingly her father is a scientist, and when I talked with her in her Brooklyn studio, she noted the influence of a nose-to-the-ground type perspective. In her work, Fernandez-Pol has directed a typically scientific attention of the natural world into a movement

inwards, in which the result of the observance is also the thing observed.

The paintings themselves are not only results of an imagined observance; they are also documents of an observance of - and in factdirect control of - paint itself. Herpaintings have a strange and wonderful blending of both formal restraint and tactile chaos that effect a tense balance. She uses all manner of application technique including syringing that evidence a laborious, as well as playful, precision. The paint, thickly applied often in petals, almost begs to be touched or tasted as it sometimes appears, especially in the cheerier pastel moments, as frosting.

This ‘petal-ing’ affect, in conjunction with the other layering textures and saturated palette, also

reference textiles and fashion. This is echoed in the sense of opulence and excess that, while produced to achieve a more visceral viewing experience, can also at times seem decoratively detached. The overall visual result of the works, however, is certainly one that maintains Fernandez-Pol’s goal: to create an overwhelming visual experience. These paintings have a physical presence that is often closer to sculpture than the illusory picture plane traditionally exploited in painting. As Denver critic Kyle MacMillan has written, her work can be located within the «abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning in the late 1940s and ‘50s».

Heavy, art-historical associa-tions aside, Fernandez-Pol does allow some fashion based visual inquiry. She makes jewelry. She showed me a few wondrously elaborate, weighty cuffs and allowed me to examine an intricate pair of white, skeletal-like earrings she made (and was wearing). Though the jewelry seems a fun aside to the paintings, she did allude to the possibility of small sculptural objects based on her drawings. Who knows where this fresh drive and momentum will continue to propel Julia Fernandez-Pol. Stay tuned.

- Ann Bowman

julia fErnandEz-pol: after Shock, 2008, oil on canvas, 24’’ x 45’’

RECENT GRADUATE HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

J U L I A F E R N A N D E z - P O L

pEGGy KWonG-Gordon: (lEfT) StillneSS in the dancinG 7(riGhT) eqUiPoiSe 2

44 A | C | A SUMMER 2009

A R T I S T S

The contemporary portrait is embodied by SA Schimmel Gold’s pop art mosaics. Her style can be compared to work by Andy Warhol and Peter Max, but her technique is reflective of contemporary culture. Her pieces start with an acrylic painting followed by her diligent application of mosaic tiles that have been cut out from recycled paper. Her resources include everything from recycled postcards to art gallery cards to old greeting cards. The artist developed her style through her studies of mosaic tiles in Turkey and glass in Venice. The result is a portrait that is modern in style and contemporary in medium.

Each piece is approached with a similar technique and style of applying color and design with the mosaic tiles. For example, in Green Genie a woman is depicted from the shoulders up. She gazes out to the viewer, and her left hand rests under her chin. Her skin is a natural pale color, but her hair is various shades of green. It flows around her face in broken strands that result from the placement of the mosaic tiles. Her eyes and lips are executed with acrylic paint.

Schimmel Gold’s work explores the idea of beauty as it is represented in contemporary society through advertisements with images of celebrities and fashion models. Most of her portraits are of women

who gaze out at the viewer in almost a seductive manner. The artist tends to use unnatural colors for their skin and hair, perhaps challenging the viewer to think about the definition of beauty in contemporary American culture.

She often creates a series of faces with different color palettes such as the “Communication” series in which the same face is represented in different color palettes: a yellow face with orange hair, a pink face with blue hair, and completely grayscale.

This variation in color palettes with the same image forces the viewer to explore different effects of the work. In her “Venus” portraits, which are stemmed from

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, she transforms the portrait from an antique face in Antique Venus to a theatrical, mask-like face in Metallic Venus. Although these pieces are the same image, they also have very different tones, like the “Communication” pieces.

Schimmel Gold’s genius is her use of everyday materials to create a work of art that is more than eco-friendly. Her exploration of the idea of beauty, her experimentation with the face, and her use of mosaic tiles from recycled mail together make her work truly innovative.

- Kate Chimenti

schiMMEl Gold: kimono, acrylic and Mosaic TilEs froM rEcyclEd Mail, 24’’ x 18’’

S C H I M M E L G O L D

BEAUTY CREATED FROM THE EVERYDAY

45ARTISTS

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A R T H U R S C H U M A K E R

The modern works of Arthur Schumaker have a bold graphic look influenced by the Modern Graphic Abstract movement. His works consist of bold colors and striking edges with hard or soft curves using overlapping shape and color to create visual movement and illusion of depth.

In Schumaker’s works there is a definite meaning to how color and form react to each other and how the mind responds. The use of fine gold lines and multi-color shapes on several works create a visual response. Schumaker’s intention is to challenge the viewer to look at each work in different ways. “Now look at the shapes. Are they floating above the background or are the shapes holes in the foreground layer?” These are the questions that Schumaker wants viewers to ask themselves.

Schumaker uses the acrylic medium to sculpt layers of paint

and achieve visual movement. If a piece of abstract art is to have significance for anyone other than the artist, it needs to have something that’ll retain the viewer’s attention, draw them in, keep them looking, and generate an emotional response. Schumaker’s works does this.

Arthur Schumaker spent some of his early life in Puerto Rico, whichis reflected, in his contemporaryworks. Puerto Rico had a lastingimpact on him personally and professionally. It was a time of mountain hikes, long white sand beaches and diving in crystal clear waters. The influence of this brilliantly colored tropical environment is reflected in his paintings.

For more information, visit www.aschumaker.com orarthur-schumaker.fineartamerica.com

CREATING MOVEMENT ON THE CANVAS

arThur schuMaKEr: (lEfT) dance, acrylic, 30’’ x 30’’(riGhT) troPical School, acrylic, 40’’ x 30’’(boTToM) birdS in fliGht, acrylic, 30’’ x 40’’

F. Lennox Campello

Isla en Caja (Boxed Island) from The Cuba Series

University of Washington School of Art • Watercolor & Ink on Paper • Circa 1981Projects Gallery • Philadelphia, PA (www.projectsgallery.com)

Mayer Fine Art • Norfolk, VA (www.mayerfineartgallery.com)

BE THERE

ART SANTA FE 2009 / JULY 23-26EL MUSEO IN THE RAILYARD ART DISTRICT / 1615 PASEO DE PERALTAO P E N I N G N I G H T G A L A / T H U R S D A Y, J U L Y 2 3 , 5 - 8 P. M . / $ 7 5JULY 24, 11- 7 PM; JULY 25, 11-6 PM; JULY 26, 11- 6 PM / TEL 505.988.8883 / WWW.ARTSANTAFE.COM

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A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L A R T F A I R

ArtSantaFeAmericanContemporaryArt:ArtSantaFe 4/23/09 3:10 PM Page 1

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ERIK GONZALES

“Arcadia”,mixed media on canvas on panel, 72” x 61”, 2009